Our Favorite Dessert Recipes Starring Sweet Pumpkin

Celebrate the combination of pumpkin and spice with these yummy autumn sweets, from classic pumpkin pie to pumpkin-spiced waffles.

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Pumpkin Spice Cakes

Autumn is baking season. Crisp weather serves up the perfect excuse to retreat to the comforts of the kitchen. Recipes, new and old, beckon, and before long spoons are being dipped into warm and sweet, spicy and mellow pumpkin-y desserts. Here we share some of our favorite recipes, inspirations, and tips to add to your own fall baking tradition.

Pictured: Three different pans and one pumpkin-spice recipe yield a trio of tiny cakes. Wrapped in ribbon, the sugar-frosted cake is made in a muffin tin. A mini Bundt cake is dressed in a citrus glaze. The little layer cake is baked in ramekins.

Mini Pumpkin Cakes

Cake VariationsPumpkins vary in shape and size, and these pumpkin-spice cakes do the same. To take these cakes to a delicious new level, adapt the recipe with cocoa. Replace 3 tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa. The result will be a delectable little cake, rich with chocolatey flavor and tinged with autumn baking spices.

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles

Warm up to the mellow flavor of cakelike pumpkin waffles awash in maple syrup. Presented in a heat-proof decanter, maple syrup invites autumn indulgence. Enjoy pumpkin waffles at any meal. Pair with fruit at breakfast, or fried chicken for dinner.

Delicious Donuts

It's hard to imagine a more irresistible snack than a donut. But we did! Chocolate cake donuts, cider donuts, and old-fashioned style, from a bakery or supermarket, are sturdy enough to withstand spreads and toppings. Try cream-cheese icing, or whip together peanut butter and honey. Wondering if day-olds are okay? Absolutely! Heat them in a toaster oven to bring out their cakelike flavor.

Leaf Cutouts

Quick Pie TricksPicture-perfect pumpkin pie has a glossy finish and nutty color that makes you want to skip the plate and go straight for the filling with a fork. Tips for achieving pumpkin pie perfection — one without cracks, a filling that doesn't shrink, and a flaky, tender, not soggy crust — are only a click away. Visit verybestbaking.com.

Crust Preparation: Begin with ready-made frozen pie crust in a foil pan; remove from the pan and thaw it on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

To Make Leaves: Cut away the crimped edge. Dip mini cookie cutters in flour and cut out shapes. Etch "vein lines" on leaves. Lightly brush with water, sprinkle on sugar, and bake at 350 degrees F on a sheet pan until golden. After pie is baked, arrange the cooled leaves around the pie's rim.